Two champagnes, Napoleon and Moet Chandon Imperial

At the end of the year is the only time as I taste Champagne. The first champagne is the Napoleon of the vintage 2002. It has been lying on the yeast for 13 years so one can expect quite a bready champagne. The producer is Champagne Ch. & A. Prieur and it was founded in 1825. This vintage consists of equal parts Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The smell is quite powerful. The taste is of bread and some apples or pears. For me it is just a bit to much bready but for others this will be the perfect champagne.

Moet Chandon is a big producer of Champagne and their Moet Chandon Imperial is a very common Champagne. It is a non vintage champagne. The taste is of bready and apples with some acidity. A bit similar to to Napoleon but lighter in taste.

Champagne and more champagne

For new years eve I had the chance to sample several champagnes.

Baron Fuente is a brut vintage champagne from 2002. I bought it several years ago and I had almost forgotten that I had it. When pouring this champagne it were not so much bubbles any more but it smelled nice. The taste were still strong but I had the feeling that this champagne were on its last legs and would probably become worse in the upcoming years.

Next champagne were the vintage champagne Comte Audoin de Dampierre from 2002. This one still had all the bubbles left and the smell of this were very strong. It had an elegant taste and I think this champagne can be stored for several more years.

I also had the chance to try a brut nature champagne, which is a champagne with no added sugar. Very good and dry.

When celebrating my 40th birthday I thought a champagne tasting wold be in order, especially some good vintage champagnes. And it would be interesting to see how the different champagnes would work together with the food also. But Champagne works very well with everything, right?

The first champagne of the day was a Delamotte Blanc de Blancs from 2002. The smell were delightful. Very good. The taste were of fruits, dry and very elegant. An excellent champagne for aperitifs. Went very well together with the Breasola with Parmesan and olive oil.

For the maincourse of pie made from Västerbotten cheese the first champagne was Wilmart & Cie from 1999, a Grand Cellar d'Or. The smell very strong and delightful yet again. The taste were strong, dry, fruits and a yeast/bread taste which was very good. yet again an excellent wine. Worked very well together with the pie.

The third wine of the evening were a Moet & Chandon from 2000. The smell delightful. The taste of this champagne were very complex. Dry, bread, citrus and a hint of minerals. Very good.

For the dessert which consisted of an Italian Panatone the drink of the day were yet again a champagne. This time a Jaquart, 2002 Millesime. Smelled a bit less tha the three other tasted champagnes. Now this felt like an aperitif champagne. Dry, citrus taste. Very good yet again. Worked very well with the panatone.

A wonderful evening spent discovering the excellent taste of vintage champagnes.

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht

Some while ago I tested two wines from Alsace from the producer Domaine Zind-Humbrecht. This producer is situated in the village Turckheim in Alsace very close to the German border. The two wines tasted was one very dry Riesling from 2007, the second one was a Vendange Tardive from 2002 made on Pinot Gris grapes. The rieling dry wine is probably the best dry rielsing wine I have ecer tasted. From what I remeber the taste was excellent. Vendange Tardive means late harvest in french and are made from late harvested grapes bot not any grapes afflicted with botrytis. The result is a wine full of great richness. And this Verdange Tradive from 2002 is excellent. Such good taste that I can almost drink it as a normal wine. Unfortunately I could not find any more bottles of this wine aftre I tasted as it had sold out.